Dress hem guide



June 14, 1955 E. L. PHILLIPS DRESS HEM GUIDE Filed Jan. 25, 1955 Patented June 14, 1955 DRESS HEM GUIDE Ernest L. Phillips, Akron, Ohio Application January 23, 1953, Serial No. 332,814

3 Claims. (Cl. 33-9) .This invention relates to a dresshem guide, which can be used by housewives, dressmakers, tailors, and the like, in marking a skirt or dress at a selected distance above the floor.

Those dress hem guides or skirt gauges of which I am presently aware are, I believe, subject to improvement. Most usually, said devices require an excessive amount of time in the obtaining of the proper height adjustment of the marking blade thereof. Accordingly, an important object of the present invention is to provide a device of the character referred to which will be adjustable with maximum speed and ease to selected elevations, thereby to permit the user to arrive quickly at a proper adjusted position at which the dress or skirt can be marked.

Another important object is to provide a dress hem guide which can be slidably adjusted longitudinally of a standard to proper elevations, the blade portion of the guide being engaged with or disengaged from its associated standard in each of said positions of height adjustment by partial rotation in opposite directions.

Another object of importance is to provide, in a dress hem guide of the type stated, a flat marking blade disposed in a horizontal plane, said blade being of fan shaped or segmental outer configuration with an arcuate marking edge extended in concentric relation to the axis of rotation about which said blade swings during the latching or unlatching of the blade at a selected position of height adjustment. In this way, it is proposed to cause the blade to interfere to a minimum extent with the dress or skirt while being rotated partially in this manner.

Another important object is to provide detent means associated with the guide blade engageable in any one of a series of notches provided in the standard, said detent means being so arranged as to move out of a notch to an adjacent smooth surfaced portion of the standard, whenever the guide blade is to be adjusted upwardly or downwardly upon the standard.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claims appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a dress hem guide formed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a rear elevational view taken from the left of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a top plan view;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view on line 4-4 of Figure l; and

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view on line 5-5 of Figure 1.

The dress hem guide constituting the present invention includes a weighted base 10, which can be formed of cementitious material or any other material sufliciently heavy to retain the base in a position in which it will be firmly and substantially immovably supported upon a floor surface. The base is integrally formed,

at its center, with an upstanding projection or boss 12 formed with a vertical socket 14 opening upon the upper end of said projection.

The lower end of an elongated, vertical standard 16 of circular cross section is fitted into the socket 14, and engages snugly in said socket so as to be retained in a vertical position. The standard 16 could be permanently engaged in the socket 14, but preferably is removable from the socket, so as to permit the dress hem guide to be disassembled and stored away in a relatively small area when not in use.

Formed in the standard 16, and extending for sub stantially the full length of the standard, is a longitudinal series of equidistantly spaced notches 18. Each notch 18 extends. transversely of the standard as best shown in Figure 2, each notch being open at its opposite ends and having an inner wall extended chordally of the standard.

The notches 18 can be spaced any desired distance apart, and will be, in commercial embodiments of the invention, associated with an ascending series of numbers marked upon the surface of the standard, to provide an aid in locating the guide blade at the proper position of height adjustment above a floor surface.

Slidable and rotatable upon the standard 16 is an elongated sleeve 20, and afiixed to the upper end of the sleeve is a horizontally projecting guide or marking blade 22. The blade 22, as shown in Figure 3, is of fan or segmental shape as to its outer configuration, and has an arcuate, beveled outer edge 24 extended in concentric relation to the axis of rotation of the sleeve 20.

Integrally formed upon the lower end portion of the sleeve 20 is a longitudinal rib 26, defining a thickened part of the sleeve, and anchored at one end to the upper end of said rib is a detent formed as a leaf spring 28, said detent being secured to the rib 26 by screws 30 or equivalent fastening elements.

The lower or free end of the leaf spring detent 28 is integrally formed with a laterally projected lip 32, said lip 32 being extended in the direction of the standard 16. It will be understood, in this regard, that the leaf spring detent is tensioned in the direction of the standard, thus to cause the lip to remain in engagement with the standard.

The lip 32 is engageable in any one of the notches 18, and when so engaged, will retain the sleeve 20 and the blade 22 in selected positions of height adjustment.

To free the sleeve 20 for slidable adjustment longitudinally of the standard 16, it is merely necessary that the blade or sleeve be grasped, and partially rotated in either direction from the position thereof shown in the several figures of the drawing. When the sleeve 20 is rotated through perhaps ninety degrees from said posi-, tion, the lip 32 will move out of one end of the notch in which it has been engaged, and will shift into engagement with a smooth surfaced portion of the standard. This will permit the sleeve 20 to be adjusted longitudinally of the standard to another position. When the new position has been arrived at, the sleeve is rotated in a reverse direction, and the lip 32 will now move into the end of the new notch, so as to engage in said new notch and retain the parts in the new position of height adjustment.

Thus, it is seen that height adjustments can be effected with maximum speed and ease, and it is also believed to be of importance that during the rotation of the sleeve 20 for the purpose of shifting the lip 32 into or out of a notch, the concentric disposition of the outer edge of blade 22 relative to the axis of rotation of the sleeve will cause said blade to interfere to a minimum extent with the dress or skirt being marked. It will be understood, of course, that to mark the skirt, it is merely necessary that tailors chalk be used, to mark the skirt at that location at which the skirt is engaged by the edge 24 of the blade 22.

When the lip 32 is in engagement with a smooth surfaced portion of the standard 16, the tensioning of the leaf spring will limit free sliding movement of the sleeve 20 to facilitate proper location of the sleeve at a new position of adjustment longitudinally of the standard.

What is claimed is:

l. A dress hem guide comprising a base; a cylindrical standard thereon formed with a longitudinal series of spaced chordal notches; a sleeve slidable and rotatable 0n the standard; a guide blade extending laterally from the sleeve; and a leaf spring detent on the sleeve tensioned in the direction of said notches and including a lip extendable into a selected notch for holding the sleeve in selected positions of slidable adjustment, said lip being shiftable into and out of said selected notch responsive to rotation of the sleeve in opposite directions in each selected position to which the sleeve is adjusted slidably upon the standard.

2. A dress hem guide comprising a base; a cylindrical standard thereon formed with a longitudinal series of spaced chordal notches extending along one side thereof; a sleeve slidable and rotatable on the standard; a guide blade extending laterally from the sleeve; and a leaf spring detent on the sleeve tensioned in the direction of the standard and including a lip extendable into a selected notch for holding the sleeve in selected positions of slidabIe adjustment, said lip being shiftable into and out of said selected notch responsive to rotation of the sleeve in opposite directions in each selected position to which the sleeve is adjusted slidably upon the standard, the standard having a smooth surfaced side adjacent said series of notches into slidable contact with which the lip shifts when moved out of a notch, said lip being frictionally engaged against said smooth surfaced side to retard free sliding movement of the sleeve on the standard.

3. A dress hem guide comprising a base; a cylindrical standard thereon formed with a longitudinal series of spaced chordal notches each of which extends transversely of the standard; a sleeve slidable and rotatable on the standard; a flat, horizontally disposed guide blade projecting laterally from the sleeve and having an arcuate outer edge in concentric relation to the axis of rotation of the sleeve; and a leaf spring detent on the sleeve tensioned in the direction of the standard and including a lip extendable into a selected notch for holding the sleeve in selected positions of slidable adjustment, said lip being shiftable into and out of an end of said selected notch responsive to rotation of the sleeve in opposite directions in each selected position to which the sleeve is adjusted slidably upon the standard.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 510,99 r Schafer Dec. 19, 1893 870,209 Wise Nov. 5, 1907 1,662,407 Tolbert Mar. 13, 1928 1,741,174 Weber Dec. 31, 1929 2,028,871 Johnston Jan. 28, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS 138,835 Austria Sept. 25, 1934 

